my site for collecting quotes

http://sites.google.com/site/mkalisiak/quotes

Anatomy of a Stump Speech

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2008/02/26/GR2008022600417.html

high-altitude ballooning in near-space

http://natrium42.com/halo/flight2/

High altitude ballooning is an emerging hobby, since price of GPS and communications equipment has gotten quite low. It is an excellent hobby for people fascinated by space flight and telerobotics and has many learning aspects — from systems design to electronics design to software engineering. There is also an exciting risk factor, namely, that you could lose your precious electronics if something malfunctions. In this project, many of my interest and knowledge areas came together. Also, I have verified that the Earth is indeed round and that space is black. — Alexei Karpenko

(Windows) file managers

Comparisons

• http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=176343
• http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=117653
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_file_managers

File Managers

• Total Commander
• Total Commander PowerPack
• Total Commande Ultima Prime
• xplorer²
• xyplorer
• FreeCommander
• UltraExplorer
• PowerDesk Pro
• Magellan Explorer

bash scripting docs

• Bash Reference Manual
• Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide
• Advanced Bash-Scripting HOWTO
• BASH Programming - Introduction HOW-TO

[link] 10 Rules for Preventing Automotive Performance Loss

10 Rules for Preventing Automotive Performance Loss - Part 1 10 Rules for Preventing Automotive Performance Loss - Part 2 10 Rules for Preventing Automotive Performance Loss - Part 3

Installing Win2K without key

(From http://www.petri.co.il/install_windows_2000_without_supplying_the_cd_key.htm)

How can I install Windows 2000 without supplying the CD key?

You can configure W2K to install without having to manually enter the CD key during the setup process.

First, you want to copy your Windows 2000 setup files from your CD to your hard drive. You have to copy at least the I386 directory.

Now go into the I386 directory you just copied onto your hard drive and look for a file called setupp.ini.

Right click it, select Properties, and remove the Read-only checkmark. Now open the file to edit it.

Your setupp.ini file should read something like this:

[Pid] ExtraData=6166656C736263737373B2574A0581 Pid=51873XXX

Replace the 3 X's (generally it'll be three zeros) at the end with "270". It should now read something like this:

[Pid] ExtraData=6166656C736263737373B2574A0581 Pid=51873270

That’s it! Now you can now install Windows 2000 without a serial number!

The Comedy Network

Canadians only (US has Comedy Central). Good far watching Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and South Park. http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca

Funny pics

http://pics.nase-bohren.de/ WARNING: some pics may not be safe for work.

The Issue Sarah Palin Must Address: I Want to See Her Naked

Hilarious: http://www.cracked.com/blog/2008/09/05/the-issue-sarah-palin-must-address-i-want-to-see-her-naked/

best freeware lists

Here are some sites giving lists of some of the best freeware out there:

• http://shellcity.net/ (see Dec.27, 2007 and onwards)
• http://techsupportalert.com/issues/al_current.htm

Attention Economy

See these interesting posts:

• http://www.workingcogs.com/2007/attention-economy-i-what-is-it/
• http://www.workingcogs.com/2007/attention-economy-ii-today-your-attention-builds-the-implicit-web/
• http://www.workingcogs.com/2007/attention-economy-iii-how-to-start-taking-control-of-your-attention/
• http://www.workingcogs.com/2007/attention-economy-iv-summary/

good calendar maker

http://www.somacon.com/p352.php

Windows STOP messages

I just had Windows reboot out of the blue (no BSOD, just as if I pressed RESET). Looking at the system event log it seems Windows ran into trouble: Event Type: Information Event Source: Save Dump Event Category: None Event ID: 1001 Date: 12/11/2007 Time: 3:19:32 PM User: N/A Computer: SKYNET Description: The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x100000d1 (0x00000000, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0xba940dc2). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\Mini111207-01.dmp. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp. A useful website detailing the STOP codes: http://aumha.org/a/stop.htm Also of interest is the KB article on dealing with the minidumps: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315263

Java links

Java 6

• JDK 6 Documentation
• Setting the class path
• Lesson: Common Problems (and Their Solutions)
• Java SE Application Design With MVC
• Trail: Graphical User Interfaces
• A Visual Guide to Layout Managers

OpenGL in Java

• JOGL website
• Java OpenGL (JOGL) Wikipedia article
• Introductory JOGL Tutorial
• JOGL forum post: How to: Getting started with JOGL
• Lightweight Java Game Library (LWJGL)

Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch's inspirational last lecture. Also see website. Randy Pausch is a professor at Carnegie Melon University which was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (operated on, but the cancer returned), and knows he has only a few months to live. What wisdom would you impart to future generations if you were in this position? The lecture's title is "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams".

interesting ideas about achievement, success, life

• Dangerous Ideas: Productivity is Overrated
• Dangerous Ideas: What If Everything We Thought Was True About Productivity Was Wrong?
• What Makes an Interesting Life Interesting?
• How to Make Resolutions that Stick

In fact, many of the other posts are quite interesting as well on that blog. Definitely a blog I'll be keeping an eye on, I find a lot of the author's observations to be quite penetrating and mirroring my own experience and half-baked thoughts.

autonomy for space robotics

Just discovered that there is some research on robot automation, the Mars explorer type, but it is happening away from St.George campus. See:

• UofT Institute for Aerospace Studies
• Tim Barfoot's page

flashing firmware for SonyEricsson Z710i

Turns out that the firmware for the Z710i can be flashed. This for example could alleviate the problem that Fido locks out the ability to use MP3s as ringtones. Even better, it seems the Z710i can be flashed with firmware for W710i, which is basically the same phone, but has nicer flash-based menu system and more advanced "walkman" music player (e.g., ability to fast-forward within a song). Here are some relevant links:

• http://www.wotanserver.com/en/supported-phones/sonyericsson-z710-debranding/
• http://www.topsony.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3519
• http://forums.wirelessadvisor.com/sony-ericsson/500-latest-firmware-for-sony-ericsson-phones.html

The interesting tidbit from the last posting is that the Service menu on the handset can be accessed using the following key combination: Right * Left Left * Left *

Adobe prevents normal.dot writes in MSOffice

Grrr... I hate applications that self-insert themselves into your tools. It turns out the reason my customizations to MS Word toolbars weren't sticking was that Word was prevented from saving settings to normal.dot, which in turn was being caused by Adobe. See this link; the fix worked wonderfully.